Friends of friends
by canyoukeepasecret14
Summary: Peter and Jared have a murder trial on their hands... But it complicates things that they have to defend a frienemy's ex. Some Jellen (Jared/Ellen), but mostly playing around with an awkward situation, and trying to write my first F&B stunt in court. I'm also trying to get a sense for the still-not-set Peter-Ellen relationship, now that she's on their side. Should be fun!
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: I own nothing, except the story. I had an idea, and I'm not exactly sure where I'm taking it yet. it's K+ for now, but it might change, doubt it will be M though. I want to write narrative on this one... I can't wait 1 week for each new episode. Story is taking place sometime between the time Stanton was arrested, and before the 11th senior partner left the firm (sometime in that 4 month time frame.)_

_Comments, ideas, feedback greatly appreciated :)_

* * *

It was a day like any other. Peter and Jared walked into the office and they both knew this day would be another struggle at Infeld Daniels. Since Stanton left the firm in their hands, senior partners have been leaving almost on a weekly basis, taking their clients with them. They were now subletting half the office space to some plastic surgeon. That was a great idea at the time, but they both knew it wasn't going to bring money in. And this wasn't what they were good at anyway.

They were amazing in court, or so they thought, but running a business was a whole different animal. They could have asked for help but they weren't really close with any other the other senior partners. Karp took off as soon as his uncle got arrested. All they were left with, in terms of loyalty was Ellen Swatello, but she had even less sense for business than they did… and her dashing people skills didn't help. Plus, both Peter and Jared knew that if she'd gotten another offer, she'd leave and never look back.

"I'm still saying we should involve her in some of the decision making process…" said Jared, getting out of the elevator.

"Just because you have a thing for her, doesn't mean she we can trust her. Besides, I guarantee, even if we promote her to senior partner she won't sleep with you, dude."

"Okay, listen. One – I DO NOT have a thing for Swatello. No thing at all. And two – what do we know about business? She is so… what's the word I'm looking for?"

"Heartless? Bitchy? A psychopath?"

"Haha, very funny… I'm trying to say, she has that … _quality_ that might make her actually good at this."

"I still think Stan put the firm in our hands for a reason. He wants us to handle it and we'll handle it… Oh, and you so have a crush on her. Five bucks you smile at her when she says hi."

"You're on."

They both notice the blonde lawyer walk towards them from her office.

"Speak of the devil. Hi Ellen," says Peter with a huge grin on his face.

"Morning," said Ellen, with a poker face. She seemed to be more phlegmatic than usual.

"Good morning!" said Jared with the biggest. "Damn it," he said as he passed a bill over to Peter.

"I didn't say it was good." Ellen look at the floor and took a deep breath.

"Everything okay? You seem to be more cranky than usual…" said Jared, with concern in his voice.

"Don't interrupt me, when I'm trying to do something," she took another deep breath. "I need your help," she finally raised her eyes from the floor, looking directly in Jared's eyes. "Both of you."

"What happened?" now Jared was definitely concerned.

"An old… _friend _of mine got into some trouble."

"Sure you can take _heeer?_ case it's no problem." Jared said with a questioning smile.

"Well that's just it. I can't take _his_ case. _HE _said I am too close and he just wants me to recommend someone who can represent him. So, as much as it pains me to ask you this, would you guys take his case?" her eyes were pleading, and they were looking directly into Jared's. He was frozen still. It was lucky that Peter spoke up first, before he could say yes.

"What is he being accused of?"

Ellen looked at the floor again. "First degree murder."

Silence hit the office. Suddenly, none of the three would hear anything besides their own thoughts. Peter finally spoke up again.

"How bad is it?"

Ellen finally looked up with a faint smile on her face: "Pretty bad, considering I'm referring him to you guys. I had made him a list of 10 lawyers before he told me about the circumstances and the evidence. Then it all went out the window."

"And why does he think you're too close?" Jared finally spoke up. He wasn't sure he wanted to hear the answer to this, but if they were considering taking the case, he knew they had to.

"Because I used to be engaged to him."

Silence fell on the trio again, but this time the awkward kind. Someone had to say something, and none of them knew what exactly. Peter knew that this case could be a tough one to win and hard on Jared, so he wanted his partner to speak first. Ellen was done pleading. It was hard enough to ask them in the first place, she was not going to ask again. And Jared was still feeling a mix of very confusing emotions of wanting to help, and something close to jealousy… But he got his thoughts together and decided to break the silence.

"We'll talk to him." He said with a smile. He figured if he cared about Ellen in any way – colleague, friend, lover, whichever – he owed her this much.

Then suddenly, before she could really think of what she was doing, Ellen opened her arms and hugged Jared as hard as she could, whispering "thank you" in his ears. It was a long hug, something that neither he nor Peter have seen her give out, ever. It seemed like it suddenly dawned on her what she was doing and she jumped back like Jared was made of fire. She then looked at Peter, who held his arms out with a huge grin waiting for his hug, but she reached for his right hand and shook it with a solid "thanks".

"He's in my office right now if you guys have time," she said.

Peter spoke up this time. "Sure. Give us 10 minutes to catch up on some stuff in our office and we'll be right with you."

Ellen nodded, turned around and started walking away.

"Dude, what the hell?" said Peter.

"Look how happy she got when I said we'll talk to the guy. I mean, she's out friend."

"She's not my friend!"

"She's our colleague…"

"She's our employee!"

"Whatever she is, I think the least we can do is hear the guy out."

"For the record I think this is a horrible idea. But you're right, hearing the guy out couldn't hurt."

The two lawyers started walking towards Ellen's office, not knowing what to expect.

* * *

_Stay tuned!_


	2. Chapter 2

**_UPDATE:_** _So sorry about the messed up coding. No idea how you guys still read it. FF messed something up with my copy-paste. Anyway. I removed all the strange code! Thanks again for the support!_

_A/N: Thanks for all the reads! This one will be a transitional chapter. I finally have an outline as to where I want to take this story, and elements/scenes I definitely want to include. Warning: it is going to be a long story. Again, I really appreciate the follows and reviews - definitely helps with the writing process. Keep 'em coming!_

* * *

Jared and Peter walked towards Ellen's office. They noticed a tall, dark haired overly muscular man sitting across from the blonde lawyer. The two were chatting, and she seemed to be smiling more than usual.

"So that's Swatello's type," said Peter.

"Used to be her type. I mean she's not engaged to the guy anymore."

"God, can you even imagine that? Swatello? Engaged? Like acting all lubby-dubby with someone? Going all crazy about planning her dream wedding?" Peter started, but then quickly stopped when he noticed the look Jared shot him. "Or, you know, don't imagine it."

Ellen noticed them and got up from her desk. She lightly touched her guest on the arm, and led him out of her office to meet the lawyers.

"Jared Franklin. Peter Bash. This is James Pratt," she said with a softer voice than usual.

"Hi James," said Peter as he shook hands.

"James," repeated Jared while doing the same.

"It's so cool to finally meet you guys. I've heard so many stories," said James with the widest smile. "Ellen told me so much about you two."

"She did?" said Jared, shooting a cocky grin towards Ellen.

She, as usual, tried to mask her discomfort with a remark that made her look like a professional. "Yes. I want James here to know how competent his lawyers are."

"And competent we are," agreed Jared.

"Actually we are much more than competent. We're the best defense lawyers in this firm…"

"Or city…"

"Maybe even country…"

"or..."

"Yes, as much as I hate to interrupt these modest introductions, we better take this to your office," said Ellen with a smile.

"Sure," said the two guys, starting to walk towards their office.

"About that. Elli, I know you care a lot about me, and the trouble I gotten myself into, but I don't want to overburden you with all of this. You've already done so much for me. I really prefer if you stay away from the case."

"James…" started Ellen.

"Elli?" whispered Peter to Jared.

"I don't know… she never lets me call her Elli. Trust me I tried."

"You would."

In the meantime, it seemed like James talked Ellen out of being there for the meeting with his new lawyers. She touched his arms again and wished him good luck. Then she looked at Peter and Jared:

"Your whiteness." As they let James walk into the office first, Ellen turned to the lawyers again: "And I swear, if you guys screw this up, I will come after you and kill you with my bare hands."

Peter and Jared shot a concerned look at each other and walked into their office.

"So you and Ellen used to be engaged I hear," said Jared as he took a seat across from James.

"Dude!" Peter looked at him with disapproving eyes.

"No, that's alright. You guys should probably know everything about me. It was before she went to law school, during her undergrad years in Boston. She was majoring in biology and I was in psych. We met at a party, and it was love at first sight. After a few months we got engaged, but then we soon realized it wasn't going to work out, so we broke it off and stayed friends ever since. This all happened over a decade ago."

"She majored in biology? That's so cool, I majored in biology!" said Jared with excitement in his voice.

"I think what my partner is trying to say is, can you explain what happened that got you here?"

"Sure. My neighbor was shot… and they think it was me."

"Yikes. Why is that?" Peter asked.

"Well… First of all, he was shot with my gun. And a couple of people from my building heard us argue all the time. He would just never take the garbage out and he would leave it in the hall. Like who does that? Then if all of this isn't bad enough, there's also the fact that I was home sleeping alone, when this whole thing went down."

"Motive, means and opportunity," Jared looked at Peter concerned. This was definitely not an easy case.

"Did you report the gun stolen?" Asked Peter, afraid to hear the response.

"I would have but see here's the crazy thing – the gun was still in my apartment."

"Hold on. So what you're saying is: someone broke into your apartment while you were sleeping, took your gun, shot this guy, and then broke in again and put the gun back in its place?" Jared said. Both lawyers were concerned now.

"It's crazy, right?! Look, I know what this looks like… But guys, trust me – I didn't do it. I would never shoot someone because of garbage." James' voice was steady as he looked at the two skeptical lawyers.

"But you would shoot someone?" asked Jared, trying to mask the unease in his voice.

"Guys, I grew up in a conservative family. We believed that guns are for protection, and we all have the right to use them to defend ourselves and our loved ones. However, I would never be so irresponsible to try to settle arguments with a gun."

The two lawyers didn't seem convinced.

"So you're sure there is no one who can attest to the fact that you were sleeping at the time?" asked Peter, already knowing the answer.

"Like I said, I live alone…"

Jared took his cell phone to his ear.

"Oh, hey. Yes, yes, Peter is here too."

He covered the microphone with his hand and looked at James.

"Will you excuse us? It's a big case, and some new evidence turned up. If you can wait outside Peter and I will be with you in a sec." James nodded, got up and walked out. "Yes, yes Johnny, I'm listening…"

"He's out," said Peter.

"There is no way in hell we can take this case," said Jared.

"Agreed. Even if the guy is innocent we have no shot at proving it," nodded Peter.

Silence fell on the office for a few seconds.

"You're the one who has to tell Ellen…" said Jared.

"Tell Ellen what?" said Swatello as she walked into the office.

"A knock would be nice," said Peter.

"Not when you're pulling a fake phone call on a client that happens to be someone I care about."

Jared cringed at the 'I care about' part, but shook it off quick.

"Look. Ellen. It's not that we don't like the guy…"

"Cause we do… Honest…" Peter took over.

"Did you figure that out in the two minutes you spent with him?" said the blonde lawyer.

"Actually, we did… and during those two minutes we also found out that, well, there's nothing we can do for him, really," said Jared.

"You'd probably be more useful than we are. Maybe call in a few favors at the D.A.'s office. Get him a good deal. There's nothing that the two of us can do."

"He can't plead guilty. He hasn't done anything." Said Ellen slightly raising her voice.

"Ellen you're a good lawyers. And, as much as it pains me to say this a pretty smart person. You know what the evidence shows." Said Peter with a faint smile.

"Look, he didn't do it," she saw that the two had already made up their minds. She took a deep breath and continued "All these years, I've watched people come toyou for help. You told them you got their backs. This is not the first hard case for you guys. If it was a Karp or any one of those lawyers, I would get why they would turn down this case. But it's you two. And as much as it pains _me _to say _this_: you two are one of the few lawyers that not only believe in their clients, but go above and beyond to prove their innocence, when everyone else had already given up on them. What happened to you guys? Where is that Franklin and Bash now?"

Both lawyers seemed uncomfortable. It appeared as if Ellen's words got to both of them.

"We'll take his case," said Jared. Peter nodded.

"Thank you, I'll go tell him" said Ellen with a genuine smile as she got up and walked out of their office.

"She's right you know. What happened to us?" said Jared looking at Peter.

"I don't know... Maybe running this firm alone wasn't such a good idea after all."


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N:Sorry about the typos... Sometimes I want to get my story out really quick, so I don't have the patience to proofread stuff more than once. Anyway, this chapter isn't one that will take us closer to the resolution of the case, it's just a side-note sorta thing. It's a Jared/Ellen chapter, clean, but - be warned - not very classy... Again, I'm super excited about this story because I know where it's going (story-wise, not romance-wise.)_

"So Dan is set to find out everything he can about what happened. James' preliminary hearing is in two days… I doubt we'll be any smarter before Dan gets back though," Peter summed up after a late day at work. "What we have now is five… six… seven witnesses describing heated arguments between the victim and James."

He flipped though his files, skimming though the testimonials.

"… a murder weapon, registered to James…"

He flipped a few ore pages.

"… and no alibi for the night of the murder."

Jared let out a sigh.

"I hope Dan finds something we can use, or we're screwed," Peter added.

"I mean the guy's kinda coocoo, but you gotta admit, he brings results," said Peter after getting no response from Jared.

Jared shrugged.

"I guess." He then looked around. "Hey, have you seen Ellen?"

"Not since this morning, why?"

"Isn't it strange that she let herself be talked out of this case so easily?" Jared asked as he walked over towards Peter.

"What do you mean?" Peter closed his files and put them in his briefcase.

"Think about it. If it was you or me, we would have fought like crazy to take the case of someone we supposedly care about. She says she's close to this guy… I don't get it."

"Don't overthink it. It's Swatello. We know she's a borderline psychopath." He picked up his briefcase, walked toward the door, placed his fingers on the light switch, and looked at Jared, who was still standing in the office, looking at his phone. "Can we go?"

"Hold on, I have to take care of something. I'll catch up with you later," said Jared, as he patted Peter on the shoulder and paced out of the office.

"Booty call?" Peter yelled after him.

"I wish" he heard the faint response.

….

"I knew I'd find you here," Jared took a seat on the barstool next to Ellen. "I'm surprised you don't have any case files on you, I thought you only came here to work."

Then he noticed something. Not only was she sitting alone with her glass of wine, but she took much longer that unusual to react. He then noticed the almost empty bottle of wine next to her, and by his guess, it wasn't the first one.

She flashed him the biggest smile ever.

"Hi." She leaned on her arm, which started slipping and she caught her head a split second before it hit the bar. "Since when is this so slippery?" She then looked at the bartender, and raised her voice: "Hey, you! I'm a lawyer. I could sue you for every last penny you got."

Jared looked at the bartender apologetically but the man was experienced and he smiled at Jared. He also flashed a smile at Ellen and said an "I'm sorry, it won't happen again."

"Better not. Can I get another one of these?" She asked as she poured the last half glass out of the bottle.

Jared signaled the bartender to cut her off.

"I think you had enough," Jared looked at her with concern in his voice.

"I never come over to your place to stop you from drinking." She took a big gulp of the wine. "Then again I'm never invited to any of your get-togethers," she shot him an annoyed look.

"You know you have a standing invitation to all our parties," he then looked at her almost worried. "Is something wrong?"

"Well… You mean besides the fact that I don't get party invites?" she asked smiling. She does smile a lot more when she is drunk, Jared noted.

"Again, Peter and I would love to have you at parties. Honestly, I never knew you could be this fun." He grinned.

She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Look. If you want to get involved in James' case, me and Peter would be more than happy to share everything we know with you. Of course, you would have to talk to James too, you know attorney client privilege and all, but I think you could convince him. I mean the more lawyers, the better, right?"

"Don't you think if I thought I was good enough I would have done everything in my power to convince him?" she looked in his confused eyes.

"Wait, what? You think you're not good enough? What does that even mean?"

"The only reason I got a promotion in the office is because you guys put in a good word for me with Gingald. So basically, if I wouldn't have slept with you, I would still be stuck prosecuting hookers. Then even after everything went down, people thought I was sleeping with someone in power. And not that I care, cause I DON'T…but it was getting around the office and if I wanted to keep a shred of dignity and prove to everyone that I'm good, I had to leave," she took the final gulp from her glass. "And then this job… I had such high hopes," she laughed. "And I guess it just sucks that I don't get to deal with any of the major cases, you know" she looked in Jared's eyes.

He never really thought about why she chose Infeld Daniels over her old job. This is the first time he realized that she had a good reason to leave and now she's stuck on the sinking ship together with him and Peter.

"You know… There's one case we're currently working on, that we could use your help with."

She looked at him with skepticism in her eyes.

"Don't patronize me," she raised her glass to take another sip, forgetting that it was already empty.

"I'm not. Look, we think James is hiding something. And, while we don't think he killed the guy, whatever he's hiding could be the key to getting him off." He figured a white lie couldn't hurt, seeing as they have been dumping all the joke-cases on her lately. She needs to be on this case, even if she doesn't see it.

Ellen started laughing. Jared looked at her. "What?"

"Getting him off?" she could barely control herself.

"Wow alcohol does turn everyone into a 12-year-old…" he looked at the bartender, signaling for the bill. After he put the cash on the bar, he reached out to Ellen.

"Common, let's go." He tried helping her get up from the stool, but all he managed was to break her fall when she spun off.

"Oh my gosh, are you okay?" she asked, laying on top of him.

"Yeah I'm fine" Jared smiled. "We should do this more often. You and me. Drinking."

"I was drinking. You had a beer," she said as she tried to push herself up. Her face then showed an expression that Jared knew very well, but has never seen it on her before. He had about two seconds to get out of her way before the wine she drank half hour ago hit the floor.

He got up and moved closer to hold her hair back.

"Hey! Get her out of here. I'm not cleaning that shit up." Said the bartender looking at the two.

"Dude, chill. She's having a rough night, alright? Here's $50 for your troubles." Jared tried to pick Ellen up after she seemed done with redecorating the bar's floor.

"Common, I'm gonna take you home."

They got in a cab outside the bar. Jared had a fleeting thought to get Ellen back to her own place but he really didn't want to leave her alone. He decided that the beach house is as good a place as any for a drunk woman.

"By the way," Ellen said on the ride there. "Thank you."

"For?" Jared looked at her confused.

She seemed to be a lot more coherent but nowhere near sober.

"Just coming out tonight to see how I was doing. Paying for my drinks. Holding my hair back. Making sure I get home safe." She smiled at him, and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

He smiled back. As he helped her get out of the cab, she looked at him with her usual expression. "Tomorrow, I'll deny I ever said that."

"I know you will." He smiled at her.

"Hey, this is your house." She looked at him confused.

"I know."

"Why am I here?" she looked at him with an annoyed expression.

"My house is nice, and I can make you the best hangover smoothie in the morning."

Since the cab had already left, she let out a sigh. "Fine." After they entered, she stumbled over to the bathroom. As she walked across the living room Peter looked up from the TV.

"No party tonight?" Jared asked.

"Nah. You weren't here. Plus I'm too tired…" Peter handed a beer to his friend.

"Dan back yet?" Jared took a sip of his beer.

"Nope. But I wouldn't worry."

"Who said anything about worrying?" Jared took a seat on the couch next to his pal and took another sip of his beer. "I was hoping we'd know something new by now."

"Well, we don't… By the way… Was that Swatello?" He looked towards the bathroom.

"Listen, it's not like that," Jared started. "I went to this bar and…"

Ellen walked out of the bathroom wearing nothing but her bra and panties.

Both Jared and Peter's jaw fell, forgetting what they were talking about.

"Oh Peter. Hi, I didn't see you there." Ellen smiled at him.

"Ellen," Peter took a sip of his beer, and realized he was staring at a woman his best friend was sleeping with. He suddenly felt very uncomfortable, and tried his best to look at everything but her. It was rare that something got him this uncomfortable.

Jared, on the other hand had no problem looking at her.

"Which one is your room?" Ellen asked, seemingly not minding at all that she wasn't wearing much in front of the two.

Jared pointed, not taking his eyes off her.

"Thanks," she started walking. She turned around "Oh by the way, I used a toothbrush from your bathroom, cause I couldn't stand my mouth tasting like vomit."

"Which toothbrush did you use?" Peter asked, still looking the opposite direction.

"The blue one." She said as she walked into Jared's room.

"Wonderful." Peter took another sip.

"I'm gonna go and check on her," Jared said, as he got up the couch and started walking toward his room.

"Yeah, okay," said Peter, still feeling uncomfortable.


End file.
